Hydrogen-cooled machine with gland seals



`May 23, 1939- c c; STERRETT 2,159,057

HYDROGEN-COOLED MACHINE WTH GLAND SEALS Filed May 26, 1938 N VOHN EY Patented May 23, 1939 PATENT OFFICE HYDBOGEN-COOLED MACHINE WITH GLAND SEALS Charles C. Starrett, Wilkinsburg, Pa., assignor to Westinghouse Electric Manufacturing Oompany, East Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsyl Application May Z6, 1938, Serial No. 210,291

4 Claims.

The present invention relates lto hydrogencooled dynamo-electric machines of a type having a shaft extending out of the machine housing, and having a liquid gland seal surrounding 5 the shaft at the point where it extends through the housing. l

'I'he principal object of my invention is to provide means for preventing the loss of yliquid in a liquid trap which is disposed between the overflow end of the liquid gland seal and theliquid sump tank, in the event of an explosion occurring in the hydrogen-filled generator housing.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view of apparatus illustrating a preferred form of embodiment of my invention;

and

Y Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of a detail.

In the drawing, the invention is illustrated as being utilized in connection with a hydrogencooled generator I which is driven by a turbine 2. 'Ihe generator is provided with an explosion- -resistant, substantially hermetically tight, hydrogen-filled housing 3, and it has a rotatable shaft 4 which extends through the housing, a gland seal 5 surrounding the shaft where it extends through the housing, and a bearing 6 on the outside portion of the shaft, that is, on the air side of the gland seal 5.

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, the sealing liquid for the gland seal 5 is the oil which is also utilized to supply the turbine governor (not shown) and the lubricating system for the bearings of both the turbine and the generator, and this oil is stored in a common sump tank 8, the top of which is closed by a cover 9.

'Ihe sump tank is preferably provided with a system of ballles II for dividing oi one end of the tank to provide an auxiliary sump tank I2 for the seal oil, the bailles being utilized to secure sealing oil which is free of bubbles.

The lubricating system for the bearings includes a pump I3 disposed within the oil in the main portion of the sump tank 8, for supplying oil, through a check valve I4, to an oil-supply pipe I5 which supplies oil to the various bearings, as indicated at I6. Disposed in the auxiliary l sump tank I2 are two other pumps I1' and I8, driven, respectively, by an oil turbinek I9 and an electric motor 20, for supplying oil, through check valves 2i to (an oil-feed pipe 23 which supplies oil to a central chamber 24 of the gland seal 5.

'I'he gland seal 5 is preferably constructed in a manner which is covered by the claims of a g-Penney Patent No. 1,840,127, granted January 5, 1932. Its central chamber 24 is provided, at its bottom, with a bypass opening 25 for regulating the now of seal oil to the gland seal. The bypass opening 25 discharges the seal oil into a chamber 21 disposed in the bottom of the main bearing 8. On both sides of the central chamber 24, the gland seal is provided with a baillel system comprising rings 26 for retarding the ow of seal oil in either direction along the shaft 4. On the air side of the gland seal 5, the seal oil which flows along the shaft escapes into the chamber 2l in the bottom of the bearing t.

On the hydrogen side of the gland seal 5, the seal oil which escapes along the shaft from the central chamber 24 discharges into a chamber 29 from which it is drained, by drainage-means 3i including on oil trap or gooseneck 32 to prevent loss of gas from the generator I, there being adiiIerence in oil-level 33-34 in the oil trap to compensate for the difference between the hydrogen pressure and the air pressure. 'I'he drainage system 3| drains, through a pipe 35, to the top portion of the sump tank 8, and preferably to the bellied-ofi' end comprising the auxiliary sump tank I2, so as to insure an adequate supply of seal oil in said auxiliary sump tank. 'Ihe seal oil discharged from the pipe 35 discharges first into into an oil. strainer 36, from which the strained oil returns to the auxiliary sump tank I2.

'Ihe top portion of the drain pipe 35, above the highest level 34 of the oil in the oil trap 32, is normally vented to the atmosphere through a vent pipe 31, and through a normally opened check valve 38 whichv closes upon the occurrence' of abnormal pressures resulting from an explosion.

It will be understood that other gland seals may be tapped onto the voil feed pipe 23 and the drain pipe 35, as indicated at 39 and 39', respectively.

In accordance with my invention, reliable means, independent of the danger of sticking valves, are provided for guarding against damage resulting from an explosion within the generator I, so as to prevent said explosion from causing all of the oil to be blown outiof the oil trap 32, resulting in loss of hydrogen from the generator. Although an effort is made to prevent the occurrence of explosive mixtures in the generator housing 3, if there should be such a mixture, consisting of hydrogen and air in such proportions as to be explosive, it is possible that an explosion might occur within the generator housing 3, and on this account, said housing is, for safety reasons, constructed strongly enough to withstand any gaseous pressure which might be created by 5I such an explosion. If an explosion should occur. the product of the explosion would be water vapor, creating heavy momentary gaseous pressures, but the water vapor soon condenses into water, within a time which may be of the order of fifteen seconds, thereupon creating a condition of sub-normal pressure within the generator housing 3, which must be met by an additional supply of hydrogen, through means which do not constitute any portion of this invention and which are accordingly not illustrated, it being understood that means for maintaining the hydrogen pressure Within the generator are well known in the art.

During` the iifteen seconds when tremendous explosion pressures are present in the generator housing 3, the oil in the oil seal 32 would be blown into the auxiliary sump tank i2 if it were not for the adoption of special means for preventing this. In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, this means includes an intermediate oil settling tank 40 which is provided with a drainage pipe 4l having an inverted gooseneck 42 disposed within the settling tank 40 for normally determining the liquid level 43 of the liquid entrapped in said settling tank. The drainage pipe 4i empties into, and in fact constitutes a continuation of, the oil trap 32. The drainage system 3i from the chamber 29 at the hydrogen end of the gland seal 5 discharges into the top portion of the settling tank 4U, so that this settling tank is disposed between the oil seal 32 and the gland seal 5.

At the top of the inverted gooseneck 42, there must be provided some sort of limited-orifice means 44 or the equivalent for normally preventing siphoning through said inverted gooseneck, but for permitting siphoning under abnormal pressure conditions. That is, when an explosive pressure exists within the generator housing 3, the hydrogen gas cannot escape fast enough through the limited-orifice means "i4, to relieve the pressure, so that oil is forced from the bottom of the settling tank 4U, up through the inverted gooseneck 32, and is thence discharged to the oil trap 32, to maintain oil within said oil trap.

The limited-orifice means 44 at the top of the inverted gooseneck 42 may be simply a small opening, as shown in Fig. 1, or it may be a more elaborate device, such as that which is shown in detail in Fig. 2, wherein a ball valve 46 is provided, which is normally kept oi of a valve seat 41 by means of a light spring 48. When a rush of hydrogen occurs as a result of an explosive pressure condition, the ball valve 46 closes on its seat 41, thereby still further reducing the amount of hydrogen which can escape through the limitedorice means 44. It will be understood that the illustration in Fig. 2 is greatly enlarged for the sake of clearness. It will be further understood that any limited-orifice means for the purpose described will be sufiicient.

In the drainage pipe 4|, immediately below the intermediate oil settling tank 40, there is provided a restricted opening or orice 5l) for limiting the rate at which oil can be discharged from the settling tank 4U under explosive-pressure conditions. The amount of oil normally entrapped in the intermediate settling tank 40 is sufciently large, and the retarded rate of now under explosive pressure conditions, as imposed by the orice 50, is sufciently slow, so that it takes longer, for all of'said entrapped liquid to be discharged from the settling tank 40, than the longest possible duration of excessive pressures as a result of an explosion in the hydrogen-cooled generator l,

thus insuring that there shall alwaysv be oil in the oil trap l2.

As an added safeguard to make certain that the drainage pipe 3|A does not become sealed with an accumulation of oil or oil bubbles, a bypass equalizing-pressure pipe 5l is provided between the upper portion of the settling tank 40 and the upper portion of the chamber 29 on the hydrogen side of the-gland seal 5 so as to positively insure the venting of the top portion of the settling tank.

As claimed in a concurrently led application of M. D. Ross and B. A. Rose, Serial No. 204,916, iiled April 28, 1938, means are provided for sucking air through the lubricating system in such quantities as to thoroughly dilute any hydrogen which might accumulate in the piping, in the bearing housings, or in the top portions of the main and auxiliary sump tanks 8 and I2, which are in communication with each other through Ventilating holes 52 and 53. The reason for this is that extremely small quantities of hydrogen may be entrapped or dissolved in the seal oil and would thus be carried into the auxiliary sump tank I2, and this hydrogen would slowly accumulate in the top portion of the tank, resulting eventually in an explosive mixture with the air in the tank. While the quantity of hydrogen thus escaping is quite unimportant from a leakage standpoint, that is, from considerations of the cost of the hydrogen, it is very important that effective means be provided for changing the air in the top portions of the main and auxiliary sump tanks 8 and i2, so that this hydrogen cannot accumulate, and it is essential that this airchanging process be maintained even during periods of shutdown of the turbine 2 and generator i.

ln the illustrated embodiment, the air-changing means takes the form of blowers 55 and 56, which are mounted on the same shafts with the pumps il and i8, and which serve to suck air out of the top of the auxiliary sump tank i2 and to deliver it through a discharge pipe 51 to the air outside of the building housing the turbo-generator. As previously described, the shafts of the pumps I1 and I8 on which the blowers 55 and 56 are mounted are driven, respectively, by an oil turbine i9 and an electric motor 2li. The oil turbine I9 is driven by oil pressure which is created whenever the turbine is in operation, but during shutdown periods this prime mover will not be operated. Under such shutdown conditions, it is necessary that the electric motor 20 shall be energized, and this may be insured either by automatic means (not shown) forI energizing the motor when the oil pressure fails in the .oil turbine I9, or the motor 20 may be left energized at all times, regardless of the operation of the oil turbine.

In order to prevent any possibility of hydrogenaccumulation at the top of the main sump tank 8, the top portion of the latter may be provided with Ventilating means which may take the form either of casual leakage around the edges of the cover 9, or, as shown, a denite Ventilating hole 58.

As a part ofthe air-changing means motivated by the blowers 55 and 56, it is desirable also that air shall be sucked in through the bearing lubrieating system, and to this end the upper portion of the bearing housing is vented to the air at 60, above the oildischarge chamber 21 in the bottom of the bearing, and said oil-discharge chamber 21 is provided with a large gravity-return drainagepipe il to the top portion of the main sump tank 8, where it discharges iirst into a strainer 62, from 'im u,

which the lstrained oil drops into the oil collected 1I within this sump tank. Ihe pipe Il is large enough so that it will not be lled with oil at any time, but will have air init as well, so that air can be sucked through said pipe 6I, and through the 5 air inlet 60 into the bearing housing.

At an intermediate point in the gravity-retum pipe 6I, oil is tapped oil, from the bottom of a horizontal portion 6I of this pipe, by means of a connection 64 which drains down, through a restricted opening or orifice 65, into the strainer 36 which discharges into the auxiliary sump tank I2, thereby-insuring an adequate supply of oil in the auxiliary sump tank I2 as indicated by the oil level 6B therein. From the auxiliary sump tank I2, oil is discharged into the main sump tank 8 through an overflow pipe 61, thus maintaining an adequate supply of oil in the main tank 8 as indicated by the oil level B8 therein. The oilwith-. drawing means 64 and 65 for draining oil from the i horizontal portion 6I of the gravity-return pipe 6I of the lubricating system provides a body of oil which is free of air, so that the oil which is returned tothe auxiliary sump tank I2 is not foamy.

25 It will be understood that other bearings may be tapped onto the oil supply pipe I5 and to the oil discharge pipe 6I, as indicated at 10 and 1I.

The provision of means for providing an air suction through the housing of the bearing 6 has 30 an additional advantage in keeping the oil vapor from escaping along the shaft at the point 12 on the outside of the bearing. At the same tima. the discharge of the air from the top of the sump tanks 8 and I2 to the scavenging pipe 51 positively $5 insures against the accumulation oi hydrogen within the enclosed sump tanks.

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, means are also provided for safeguarding against the entrance of seal oil from the gland seal 5 into 40 the generator I, said means comprising a labyrinth 1l disposed on the generator side of the chamber 29 at the hydrogen or generator side of the gland seal 5, together with a pipe 15 from the generator side of this labyrinth 14 to a highpressure zone within the generator housing 3, so that the tendency is for hydrogen to flow past the labyrinth 1l toward the gland seal 5 rather than for oil to ow away from the gland seal 5 through the labyrinth 14. It will be understood that the hydrogen-cooled generator I includes well-known means (not shown) tor circulating the hydrogen within the machineipsing a, and 1t is to a nighpressure portion of this hydrogen-circulating system that the pipe 15 vents.

While I have illudzrated my invention in a preferred form of embodiment, it is to be understood that such illustration is not intended by way of limitation, as various other forms of embodiment may be adopted by those skilled in the art without departing from the essential principles of my invention. I desire, therefore, that the appended claims shall be accorded the broadest construction consistent with their language and the prior art.

tight, hydrogen-med hlising, a. rotatable shaft extending through the housing, a gland seal surrounding said shaft where it extends through said housing, a sump tank for a sealing liquid. means for supplying sealing liquid from said sump tank to said gland seal, and drainage means for returning sealing liquid from both sides of said. gland seal to said sump tank, characterized by said drainage means from the hydrogen side of the gland seal including an intermediate settling tank, and limited-opening means for retarding the ow of liquid from said intermediate tank, the amount of liquid normally entrapped in said intermediate tank being so related to its retarded rate of iiow that it takes longer, for all of said entrapped liquid to be discharged, than the longest possible duration of excessive pressures as a result of an explosion in the hydrogen-cooled machine.

2. The invention as defined in claim l, characterized by said intermediate settling tank having a drainage pipe having an inverted gooseneck normally determining the liquid-level of the liquid entrapped in said settling tank, and a limited-orifice means in the top of said inverted gooseneck for normally preventing syphoning through said inverted gooseneck but for permitting syphoning under abnormal pressure conditions.

3. A hydrogen-cooled machine having an explosion-resistant, substantially hermetically tight, hydrogen-filled housing, a rotatable shaft extending through the housing, a gland seal surrounding said shaft where it extends through said housing, a sump tank for a sealing liquid, means for supplying sealing liquid from said sump tank to said gland seal, and drainage means for returning sealing liquid from both sides of said gland seal to said sump tank, characterized by said drainage means from the hydrogen side of the gland seal including a liquid trap and having an intermediate settling tank interposed between said liquid trap and said gland seal, means whereby the hydrogen gaseous pressure normally bypasses around the liquid in said intermediate tank and applies to said liquid seal and whereby, under abnormal pressure conditions, liquid is blown out of said intermediate tank and through said liquid trap into said sump tank; and limitedopening means for retarding said abnormal iiowA of liquid from said intermediate tank, the amount of liquid normally entrapped in said intermediate tank being so related to its retarded rate of iiow under said abnormal pressure conditions that it takes longer, for all of said entrapped liquid to be discharged, than the longest possible duration of excessive pressures as a result of an explosion in the hydrogen-cooled machine.

4. The invention as deiined in claim 3, characterized by said intermediate settling tank having a drainage pipe having an inverted gooseneck normally determining the liquid-level of the liquid entrapped in said settling tank, and a limited-orifice means in the top of said inverted gooseneck for normally preventing syphoning through said inverted gooseneck but for permitting syphoning under abnormal pressure conditions.

CHARLES C. SIERREI'I. 

